What Are The Chances
by Zairazruari
Summary: If you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and in the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself reborn in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer. On hiatus indefinitely.
1. Prologue

**Title:** What Are The Chances

**Summary: **If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself reborn in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

**A/N:** This is my first ever piece of fanfiction and it's inspired by Silver Queen's amazing Dreaming of Sunshine. When I first read that, I was surprised at how good it was, especially since SI was not a theme I really enjoyed in the past. That was sufficient reason for me to try my hand at writing an SI fic as well. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

They wouldn't let go of my bag.

It seems like such a stupid thing, in hindsight, but in the moment, all I could think of was how precious my bag and its belongings were to me. Inside was my wallet, two books that I had been planning on reading, my phone, my planner. In a way, those possessions symbolized memories that I did not want to let go of. My life was surely worth more than that, but as the theft was happening, I did not, could not think of any reason why I should let go.

Then the knife slid into my skin smoothly, slipping through my ribs in a manner that spoke of experience in this sort of thing. The last thing I saw was the look of horrified surprise on my best friend's face, before everything turned dark.

* * *

I didn't expect to wake up, but I did. My eyes opened to an unfamiliar place. At first, everything was hazy and nothing made sense, but as my eyes focused, strings of white light came into sharp relief. Where was I?

I stood up slowly, a phantom pain in my chest throbbing before disappearing completely. The last thing I remembered was walking along a shady street with my friend, then a sudden jerk as my handbag was snatched from me. A scuffle began when I would not let go, even if I was outmatched by three older men. Then…what happened?

Didn't I get stabbed?

If I did, then how come I was here in this void of black, stretching across my field of vision as if it was endless? Where was the hospital I was supposed to wake up in? Why did my body feel so healthy, my health too perfect? I looked down at my feet, surprise registering when I noticed that I was standing on a translucent strip of light. What was going on?

Too many questions ran through my head as I looked around. Other than the luminescent path I was standing on, there were countless strings made of the same light emerging from the void I found myself in. Along these strings, brighter pinpricks of light traveled in various speeds. The strings were all around, emerging from above, below, across, and beside me. I squinted at the view and tried to look at the strings more closely. Their origins seemed unfathomable, but one glance showed that they all connected to the same place – a star-like ball so bright that it burned.

There was nothing else to do but to walk forward and see what that ball was and what the strings led to. At the very least, this was a dream and I was going to wake up any second. Reassured by this thought, I resolved to at least enjoy myself in this dream. It was rare that I had _lucid dreams_ anyway! The faint feeling of security I got from this place told me that nothing bad will happen to me here. Anything that could hurt me was in the past now, and this was the place for moving on. _Rebirth._

Where had that thought come from?

Eventually, my steps led me to the bright ball of light, which was revealed to be a circular platform about two meters in diameter. It was empty, though at first glance, it seemed that the little pinpricks of light emerged from one string and hopped on to another, but when I blinked, that disappeared.

One second, I was staring blankly into the strange view I had, and the next, my eyes were drawn to the only other thing on the platform with me. It appeared to be a human. A gasp escaped my throat as I looked at the girl standing right across me. She wasn't there a second ago, but seeing someone else came as some sort of relief. Surprise showed in her face too, as well as a slight degree of wariness. Good to know I wasn't the only one feeling confused here.

We didn't speak at first, taking the time to look at each other quietly. If I had my wits about me, I would have noticed that this was not my normal was of interacting with people, but it had felt so natural then. The stranger looked like she was of the same age as me, though she stood a little taller. Where my black hair was short and uneven, her red hair was long and smooth. My black eyes searched her blue ones for some sort of recognition, but nothing came. We did not know each other.

Her attire was strange as well. A long-sleeved mesh shirt covered most of her frame, her modesty only kept in place by a black sleeveless tank on top of it. Her pants were bulky, ending between her knee and ankles, but even if that seemed normal, the bandages wrapped around her leg begged to disagree. Was she injured or something? The pouch on her hip and on her left thigh were strange, and the open-toed sandals she wore were also of a design that I hadn't seen before. Offhandedly, I wondered if I presented as strange a sight to her as she did to me. In contrast to her clothing, I had a loose white t-shirt on, and black shorts. My flipflops seemed fragile compared to her footwear, and of course, my bag was nowhere to be found.

The silence was broken when she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Hello?" she said a little uncertainly, a slight Japanese lilt coloring her tone. As the word came out of her mouth, she looked surprised and quickly slapped a hand over her lips. I had no idea what was wrong and instead replied, saying "Hi!" The word came out strangely. My intention had been to speak English, but the sound came out differently from what I had expected. It was then that I understood her surprise. Really, what was going on here!

A flutter of black, darker than the void that surrounded us, brought our weird greetings to a standstill. We watched as it slowly coalesced into a freakishly big shape. It features refined into the visage of a grinning armored demon with horns. The other girl tensed, her hand drawing near the pouch on her thigh, but I only stared with a gaping mouth. As quickly as it appeared though, it shape changed into a tall hooded figure holding a deadly scythe, then a blighted darkspawn reeking of death, then a godly man dressed in Greek clothes and holding a two-pronged spear, then finally, into another girl.

Her hair was black but shapeless, contrasting with her pale white skin. An ankh rested on her chest, hanging from a silver necklace. Her clothes were black as well – a tank top, skinny pants, and boots. A faint niggling voice at the back of my mind told me that she should be familiar, but I could not for the life of me remember where I had seen her before. "Who are you?", I asked before I could stop myself, cringing at the strange sensation speaking here brought about.

She laughed, though her smile was less an expression of joy than the mere baring of teeth. Her skin did not crease as she continued, the pale flesh appearing like smooth, impersonal bone. Her voice was sweet though. Musical in a way that _fit_ in this void my dream was taking place in. "Welcome to the crossroads, Maza," she said, peering at me with dark eyes that seemed to pierce into my very soul. "It's good to see that you've met Kiyoko already!" The strange redhead started, bewildered as I was with the knowledge that a stranger would know our names. "Do I know you?" she – Kiyoko – asked.

Again, the laughter and the smooth smile. "I've been with you all your life, Kiyo-chan." She winked, the action appearing both natural and freakish on her face. "You may have heard me called Hades, or the Grim Reaper, or the Shinigami, or Shiva…" The names were familiar. Pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place. "But, simply put, you might know me better was Death."

* * *

In a span of a few minutes, the girl claiming to be Death began speaking of my personal life and Kiyoko's, as if trying to prove the veracity of her claim. She told us that we were there because of an anomaly in her plans. "The both of you, Maza and Kiyoko, were born at the exact same date, at the exact same time, in the exact same manner. Your deaths happened at the exact same date, at the exact same time, in the exact same manner as well," she had said. This, she claimed, brought about a phenomenon that had only happened twice before.

"You, my dears, will be given a chance afforded only to those who are so lucky." She twirled on the platform, dancing dangerously close to the edge. "If both of you so desire, you may exchange lives." I looked at her with a disbelieving expression. You have got to be kidding me… "You are dead, so there's really no other logical choice, is there?" she continued as I spluttered indignantly. On the other side of the platform, Kiyoko scratched her head confusedly. "Exchange lives and live." Death made it sound so easy.

Without giving us the chance to speak, she spoke again, her voice taking on a serious tone. "Of course, you would have nothing to do with your former life, though the memories you have of your old one will remain. This will be a challenge. You, Kiyoko, are an orphan shinobi living in Sunagakure. You, Maza, are a student with four siblings and both parents still alive. Different lives will prove a challenge, but eh, you can't have everything." Death shrugged elegantly.

Sunagakure sounded familiar to me. It was in an anime that I had followed religiously over the course of my childhood. _Naruto._ It was named after its protagonist, a blonde and boisterous boy, and set in a fantastic world full of ninja and hidden villages and jutsu. In spite of myself, I began to get curious.

"What happens if we don't agree?" Kiyoko asked softly, giving voice to a question I had been too scared to ask. Another shrug, another smooth smile. "Then you both remain dead, and your souls are shuffled off into another new life without memories. A blank slate once more." When she said that, my first thought was of my family. How would they feel with a dead daughter? What about my closest friend, who had been with me when I died? She would be devastated when she realized that she watched me get killed. They should be spared from the pain… And living in a world that I had a modicum of knowledge of, was that not better? Though I could not read her thoughts, Kiyoko had been thinking of the chance to have a family as well. As an orphan, she had not known what it was like to have parents and siblings of her own. The idea, it appeared to us, had some merit.

Still, if this was a lucid dream, I should be able to affect what was happening here. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on imagining a white-walled room with blue curtains. A bed was on the far corner, and a desk was located right across the door. As perfectly as I could, I visualized my bedroom, willing my surroundings to change into a more familiar place. But when I slowly opened my eyes, it was still the same view. Death and Kiyoko and the black void. One last desperate thought consumed my head, eager to escape this nightmare. I pinched my arm, pressing hard until it began to hurt. "It's useless," Kiyoko said, bringing up the palm of her left hand for me to see. A bright red slash was there, carved in place by the kunai in her other hand. "So this is not a dream…" I whispered faintly, still in disbelief.

This was all real and happening to us then. What else was there to do? "I accept." My face was grim as I considered the pros and cons of the choice I had made, but as Death had said, nothing else seemed logical. We had nothing to bribe Death with, and there was no way we could ask the immortal embodiment of an idea to change her mind. "And so do I," Kiyoko said as she shrugged.

"Well then! I'm glad to hear that." A twinkle in her eyes told me that she was happier than she seemed about our decision. "The previous Death twins had not liked the proposition at all, and I had to give them a couple of lifetimes as fruit flies to make myself feel better!" A drop of sweat slid down Kiyoko's face as I watched Death with incredulity. Was the personification of Death really this childish, or was this just the persona she chose to show us? Nevertheless, the decision was made. "All you have to do now is to walk along each other's path, and you'll be inserted into each other's body! Such a simple way to reincarnate. A genius idea, if I do say so myself!"

Kiyoko and I exchanged twin looks of mock despair as we listened to Death's praise for herself. As one, we moved to the center of the platform and shook hands. "Take care of my family, please," I said, regret and profound sadness making my voice shake. "Take care of my best friend and my rabbit, and…be good." There was no point in saying these things, but I could not help myself. I could not make sure that the kunoichi soul inhabiting my former body would follow what I said, but saying it made me feel better anyway. The answering smile on her face reassured me slightly. "I will, Maza-san. Thank you for this opportunity…and take care of yourself."

Formal words. Will I have to learn to speak like that?

She gripped my hand tight as she spoke then released it, walking along the path I had just vacated without looking back. She was just a bright speck of light in the distance when I finally stepped on the path to Kiyoko's life. Before I continued, I glanced back at Death, who had been watching with a pleased expression on her face. I had to _know_… "Is all of this happened to Kiyoko and I because of a mistake?"

The answering grin did nothing to make me feel better. I still held out hope that this was just a dream and that I would wake up to find that the robbery and this conversation had all happened in my head. "A mistake? I guess you could call it that…" She placed a hand on her chin, mimicking a thinking pose before continuing. "It's less of a mistake though and more of an…_experiment_." With that, she walked towards my stunned figure and roughly pushed me towards Kiyoko's life. The last thing I remember was a peal of bright laughter and an eye-scorching flash of light.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for taking the time to read the first fanfic I ever wrote! This prologue was basically written to give the reason behind the SI appearing in the Naruto world, which is an approach I haven't read before. I had not wanted the SI to suddenly wake up in there with no explanation. Sunagakure was also the village I chose for her because it seemed like a new perspective (i.e. not Konohagakure) would be good. Hopefully, it works and is interesting enough to keep your attention! Bonus points if Death seems familiar to you.

Since this is my first piece of work, I'd appreciate ideas, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism. Please review!


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** What Are The Chances

**Summary: **If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself reborn in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

**A/N:** Six reviews may not seem like a lot for the more experienced and well-known writers, but for someone who signed up and uploaded a fanfic for the first time ever, it seems like a gift from the gods. Thank you very much to those six for taking the time to read and review this story!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

A faint tingle woke up my right hand, making it twitch slightly. It was the first time my new body moved in days, having been unconscious since the time Kiyoko was stabbed. I was so tired that _feeling_ was all that I could do. The tingling sensation spread through my arm, lancing through the nerves there like electricity. Pins and needles erupted from the area, nerves coming back to life once more, but even if that feeling was unpleasant, it was familiar. What wasn't, however, was the sizzling flare of lighting that shot through my arm, from the tips of my fingers to my shoulders, clearing out what felt like a clogged vein. I yelped in pain, unsure about what I was feeling at the moment, but it did not end there. Soon, that same electricity was coursing throughout my whole body.

It felt like my whole body was struck by a bolt of lightning. For someone who had never had to endure any kind of pain before, it was unimaginable. I reacted the only way I knew how to react to pain – screaming.

The sound was raw and pained, much like an animal that was being skinned alive. It resonated throughout my whole body, which had been reduced to lightning and pain and the unwelcome feeling that _should not be there_. Even if something in the back of my mind told me that this sensation should have been something I was accustomed to – and treasured, even – that did not make the intrusive feeling of lighting streaming through my veins any better.

Throughout the haze that my own pain brought about, I felt – rather than saw or heard – hands holding my own, stopping me from scratching my arms any further. Another set was making my rigid body unfold from my fetal position. "Hold her down!", a woman was shouting above the noise I was making. Epidural. Chakra hypersensitivity. What were they saying? _Take it away! It hurts! _Morphine. _Blessed rest…_

* * *

Consciousness came back slowly, tentatively, as if it was apologetic about the pain it had caused me and was now tiptoeing about. I felt like I was groggy, swimming underwater. Everything was hazy and the noises outside my door sounded like they were from miles away. Absently, I began to wonder at the lack of pain in my body. It had been the first thing I encountered in this world, so not sensing it seemed odd. Then again, as I closed my eyes and lay down, I felt the thrum of lightning still coursing through my veins. It was just…muted now, almost gone.

A face swam into view beside me. It was a sandy-haired man with blue eyes, smiling at me pleasantly before opening and closing his mouth. Was he speaking? I struggled to focus on his voice, even if it seemed too soft to understand. "How are you feeling, er…", he said quietly as he check his clipboard. "Chiaki-san?"

I stared dumbly at him, thinking that his guy must have it wrong. I had half-expected him to call me Maza, but remembered that my new body's name was Kiyoko...and he didn't say Kiyoko, did he? After a few seconds of plain looking at each other, he smiled self-deprecatingly and scratched the back of his neck. "I have the right room, don't I? Chiaki Kiyoko?"

_Oh._ So that was her complete name. It sounded right to my confused head anyway. I nodded mutely, unsure how I could understand the language that sounded like bastardized Japanese to my ears. Could I even speak it? My thoughts were still in English, as far as I could see.

"How are you feeling, Chiaki-san?" He paused, waiting for an answer that I wasn't sure I knew how to give. When it appeared that an answer wasn't forthcoming, beyond the fact that I titled my face slightly to look at him better, he introduced himself. "I am Yashamaru, the medical-nin assigned to your case. May I examine your injury?"

"H-hai.", I stuttured before realizing that the word had been supplied by my head automatically. Yashamaru's answering smile was kind as I spoke my first words to him, and he placed his hands slightly below my chest. It glowed slightly, healing chakra sweeping through the wound that had threatened my life. As he worked efficiently, I wondered how I could understand a language that I never learned. Did English even exist in this world?

But before I pursued that line of thought even further, I realized that Yashamaru was a familiar name. Dropping into a world that I had knowledge of, I suppose it was to be expected that some things would ring a bell, but I could not for the life of me remember if this man before me was a canon character or not. Did I read his name in a manga before, or was he mentioned in the anime at all? _Hmm…_

In my previous world, I wasn't really the biggest fan of Naruto. Sure, it was amazing and I loved how cool everything appeared, but my younger brother was really the one addicted to it. Because of him, I was updated with the new manga chapters and anime episode, up until the time of my death, and further research using the Internet brought me up to speed about things that I was interested in. Unlike him, however, I could not list from memory the number of missions Gaara ever took or the stats of each hidden village. I always had the Internet and other sources to rely on when I needed this information, and therefore, I saw no need to memorize these things. More fool me.

And hey, if this world existed, does that mean that other anime shows exist in different worlds? What about books and movies? Wasn't there a scientific theory that for every single possible outcome in every single choice, an alternate reality forms? Wouldn't that mean that every single thing the human mind can think of exists in a different world? I shuddered slightly at the idea, drawing Yashamaru's attention. "Are you cold?", he asked. It would've been impossible to feel cold in the desert, in the middle of the day, so doing so might be a symptom for something.

I shook my head and stared out of the dusty window to my right, ignoring Yashamaru as he paused to write more things on his clipboard. Stucco-colored buildings, sand flying with every gust of wind, a random sighting of a ninja jumping from roof to roof. This truly was Sunagakure. A small part of me was disappointed in not being reincarnated in a Konoha citizen's body, but if I thought logically about it, maybe there were some advantages. I mean, being in Suna will help me avoid changing as much of canon as I can, provided the Naruto canon in RL was truly what will happen to this world. Changing things this early, when I don't even know what part of the timeline I landed in, would be rendering my future knowledge useless anyway. I intended to keep that trump card as long as I could.

Pragmatically, I realized that I could not avoid encountering something canon in the near future, but I vowed to avoid it for as long as I could. Meeting a canon character or heading to Konoha will change a lot of things, perhaps for the better but…perhaps not. What was that thing about a butterfly's wings in China causing a hurricane in Europe or something? It was totally relevant.

A few seconds after making the vow, I realized something so _stupid_ that it took a fair amount of effort not to start slamming my head on a nearby wall. I must've let out a groan or something, because Yashamaru looked at me weirdly. Yashamaru, freaking _Gaara's uncle_ and the _Kazakage's brother-in-law_. Way to avoid canon characters, idiot!

He cleared his throat to catch my attention, thinking that it was just his luck to get a patient who might actually have mental problems. It would be better to distract the patient with something else. "Your injuries are healing properly, Chiaki-san." I smiled slightly, still distracted by the idea that I was speaking to a canon character but pleased to hear that this body was not going to remain in this hospital bed for too long. "You had a stab wound between the seventh and eight ribs on your left side. It partially sliced through a vein and through the walls of your heart, and damaged your lungs as well."

"You're lucky to be alive.", he said with a smile. "Well technically, you were dead on arrival here in the hospital, but you were resuscitated. The wall in your heart was repaired quickly and blood transfusions were enough to get you stable." His expression was smooth and kind, but there was something there that spoke of more interest than he let on. Maybe I was some sort of medical miracle that he wanted to examine further? If so, he didn't speak about it and I was only too happy to change the topic."Death seemed like she was in the mood to let a soul go.", I replied wryly, thinking about how happy she had been to get a pair of guinea pigs for her _experiment_.

He nodded, still thinking about briefing his patient about her own condition. "So it seems. Still, the few minutes where your heart stopped beating was enough for blood to stop circulating in your brain. This lead to some tissue death, which might be reversible, but we don't know for sure yet." That sounded serious, and I sat up on my bed to give him my complete attention. "For the next few months, you would have to be on the lookout for stroke-like aftereffects. These would be loss of memory, lack of coordination, throbbing headaches… I'll drop off a flyer later for more of the details."

In spite of myself, I was impressed. Death had thought of everything, hadn't she? This brain damage, though scary and hopefully temporary, was the perfect excuse if ever I blanked out while speaking to someone or someone would noticed that Kiyoko's skills had deteriorated. It was _brilliant_.

"The chakra hypersensitivity that you seemed to have picked up must have also been caused by this brain damage.", he said, rousing me from my thoughts once more. I turned to look at him, wondering if this was related to the earlier episode with the lightning and the screaming. The electricity was chakra? "We don't know exactly what caused it, so we had a chakra-suppression seal made for you. Our hope is to let you get used to the chakra in your body slowly, but incrementally allowing more and more to circulate in your coils. This might help you acclimatize better, but you'd have to come back and see me for check-ups and for adjustments to your chakra-suppression seal." So that was why it took a couple of minutes for me to actually notice the presence of the electricity again... It was a good idea, and at this level, the presence of chakra felt normal. Maybe back in my world, everyone had chakra, but it was at such infinitesimally small levels that no one noticed and no one learned how to use them.

My head was beginning to hurt from the info dumping that both Yashamaru and I were doing to my poor head, so I just nodded, falling back to the silent and passive attitude I had earlier. Yashamaru must have noticed and thought that I was bored, since he patted my head and whispered conspiratorially, "Don't worry. Since you're going to be moved to a recovery room tomorrow, your friends will be able to visit you soon!"

Ah, Kiyoko had friends? I wrangled my face into a semblance of a smile that most probably looked unreal to a shinobi like Yashamaru but I could not bring myself to care. A quietly smiling face had surfaced in my head when I thought of the word _friend_ and I followed that memory, realizing slowly that Kiyoko's memories before we switched bodies were…_here in my head_? Somehow, I had retained her memories, even though they were kind of faded, compared to my own. I remembered her friends, and I remembered how she spoke to them and what they did together and, holy guacamole, remembering was going to make life _so so so much easier!_ I fell back into bed with relief. "Thank you for that, Yashamaru-san. It's reassuring to know that my life may be back to normal soon."

Before he turned around to leave, he graced me with another kind smile. "You'll be fit to leave in about a week, and then you can resume your classes in the Academy." The sound of a closing door signaled his departure, leaving me alone in a yellow-walled room, replete with the smell of chemicals and sterile cleaning agents. Only the window looking out at the buildings outside was of interest in the whole room, and it was there that I trained my tired eyes. So this was to be my life now…

* * *

**A/N:** Maza is finally in Kiyoko's body and in Sunagakure! Our first canon character also appears. I know it's short and it doesn't give a lot of information (mostly just Maza's thoughts), but there's something restrictive about writing in first person that I'm just starting to learn how to work around. I've thought about switching to third-person, though if I do that, does this fic still count as an SI or am I just writing about an OC? *mutters*

As for why Maza wakes up in Suna and not Konoha, I have _two main reasons_:  
**1.** It removes the standard canon formula that I see a lot of people use. I've probably read too many fanfics where the protagonist is in Team 7, does D-ranks, then gets a C-rank to Wave, then meets Tazuna and gets insulted, then ambushed, etc etc. I'm not saying that it's bad because it could be done _very well_, but it's predictable and I didn't want that. Setting the fic in Suna gives me a chance to explore something new. At this point in time, it's practically untouched by canon and I'm free to write about its culture, its clans, its history and traditions, without showing something that you're probably too familiar with already.  
**2. **There are less chances to affect the future as canon shows it because what's shown in the anime mostly takes place in Konoha. So for example, if I want to start merging this fic with canon in the rescue the Kazekage arc, everything will mostly start off the same. Maza's knowledge about future events would probably be used better this way.

The bad thing about setting it in Suna, though, is the need for a lot of OCs and original places, ideas. Some people find that too much of this throws them off a fic, so if anyone has any idea about what would be _too much_ or _just right_ in terms of originality, then I'd love to hear about it.

_Thanks to my reviewers: Chrizzy-chan (my first reviewer who, sadly, I can't PM back with all my love), onecsm, perfect oblivion, Silver Queen, Just Another Random, and vantweet!_


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** What Are The Chances

**Summary:** If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

**A/N:** Twenty more reviews? I feel like I could faint! I hope that this next chapter is sufficiently long for those who mentioned the length of the previous ones, and provides enough information to answer some of the questions that had been brought up. Thank you to _vantweet_ as well for spotting the errors I made in grammar and spelling in the previous chapters! This is why I should try to find a beta…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

When I had finally been cleared to receive visitors, the first one to arrive was a young girl named Mayumi. The faded memories I had of Kiyoko's told me that she was supposedly the closest thing I had to a best friend. They had not really called each other as such, but it did not need to be spoken. Since they had met in Sunagakure's orphanage, the House of the Sun, they had drifted towards each other naturally, and even when they were asked to attend the Academy, they had not let go of their friendship.

Mayumi was soft-spoken and shy. When she had arrived in my hospital room unannounced, carrying a rather wilted bunch of flowers, she looked like she'd rather melt into the sickly yellow walls than talk to the nurse that had just finished checking up on me. As she approached me shyly, carrying her drooping gift like she expected me to reject it outright, I smiled at her tentatively, wondering just how Kiyoko had been able to earn the friendship and loyalty of someone like this.

Since memories that did not really belong to me did not serve as an adequate replacement for seeing Mayumi in person, I took the chance to scrutinize her appearance. In a way, she rather reminded me of the canon Hinata with the way she fiddled with her hands and stuttered while speaking. Despite their similar personalities though, their appearance could not be further apart. Offhandedly, I mused that if I had been placed in Mayumi's body instead of Kiyoko's, I would've wondered if I was not truly a Mary Sue written into the Naruto universe by the hand of Death. Her appearance, even as an eight-year old child, was arresting. Where Hinata had the palest white eyes, Mayumi had the darkest black. The former's purple hair would have clashed with the peculiarly sunny blonde of the latter's. If ever there had been a chance for them to meet, it would have been interesting to see the dichotomy between their features superimposed with their comparable personality.

Faint recollections of quiet talks and bonding moments that consisted of making tea and doing chores in the orphanage made me realize that she and Kiyoko had been the perfect friends for each other. Neither had expected the other to start or carry a conversation when there was nothing to say. Kiyoko had been quiet too, but it was not due to shyness or timidity. Instead, she had been observant and calculating, and these traits, she used to protect the girl who had been so prone to being abused by others.

When someone would skip doing their share of the chores, knowing that Mayumi would quietly finish it anyway, Kiyoko had been the one to stop her and to bring the matter to the people in charge. When the other kids had promised retribution because of that, Kiyoko had launched herself at them, scratching and kicking and biting them into submission. Afterwards, when they had retreated into their corner of the orphanage, Mayumi had been the one to take care of her scratches and bruises.

Remembering all of these things made me predisposed to liking the girl from the moment I saw her, even if she, out of everyone in Kiyoko's small circle, had the biggest chance of noticing any glaring differences in my behavior. Her eyes had widened comically when she took in the bandages across my chest, so I forced a small smile for her. "How have you been while I was gone?"

"S-shouldn't I be asking y-you that, Kiyoko-chan?" The stuttering made her reply almost intelligible, and I noticed that she had avoided my question. Still, it wasn't like she'd hide anything from Kiyoko, so I let it pass. "How are your w-wounds? And the p-procedure?" Even the smile felt like too much effort to maintain, so I slipped back into an expressionless face.

"I'm fine now, though yesterday, my wounds were still very purple." Well, that sounded wrong. I meant to say that it hurt, but my mind couldn't focus on the correct word. "Er…purple?" I tried again, frowning in consternation as Mayumi looked like she wanted to laugh. "Purpose! No…" The only benefit of embarrassing myself because of the refusal of a single word to come to my tongue was that Mayumi was looking more and more comfortable in the hospital room. "Paaaaaay… Painful!"

She appeared amused but sympathetic to my plight. "It's a-alright, Kiyoko-chan. The n-nurses outside had mentioned that s-speaking might be strange for you." A hand roughened by countless hours scrubbing the floor and doing manual laundry patted my own, before shyly tucking an inky lock of hair behind her ear. "They said that you are g-getting better and will improve more though. I-I am glad."

Though her visit was cut short by the arrival of a chūnin orphanage volunteer who was going to accompany her to the market, it had been refreshing to speak with someone who appeared to know Kiyoko but did not scrutinize me the way Yashamaru did. When they were saying their goodbyes, I could not stop myself from grinning in a way that I could not remember Kiyoko ever doing and trying to wrangle a promise from Mayumi to visit again. If ever she wondered about the change in Kiyoko's mien, she did not comment on it, and even if she did, I would've claimed a change of heart due to a near-death experience. Knowing her, she would've accepted her best friend's answer without question anyway.

* * *

The next visit was something that I should've expected but did not really prepare myself for. Maybe it would have been better for me to pretend to be asleep when a voice announced the arrival of Moto Deisuke, the chūnin sensei assigned to my age group in the Academy. He had not been alone, but was accompanied by most of the children Kiyoko had ever interacted with.

There had been a rambunctious one with spiky green hair bouncing off the walls, accompanied by a loud brunette dressed in frilly clothes. A rather stately bunch composed of a kid with a hawk on his shoulder, a good-looking boy with glasses, and a pretty blonde stood in the corner, watching what was happening but not really involving themselves in it. One giant of an eight-year old had picked up the chart hanging from my bed and busied himself with it while Deisuke-sensei sat on the chair beside my bed to talk. The rest loitered outside my room, prevented from entering due to the rule that limited visitors to seven at most.

They had all greeted me upon entering, asking about my condition and telling me to get well soon. Still, their names are unimportant at this point, though I was able to recognize most of them. The main thing that stood out from this visit was that it was the first time I objectively heard about what actually happened to Kiyoko that ended with her death. Kiyoko's memories were adrenaline-tinged and hazy when it came to the incident itself. Of course, I remembered that one of the criteria that Death mentioned was dying in the same way, but that only meant that she had been stabbed in the exact same place that I was. What I cared about was how she got herself into that situation in the first place and what, exactly, people thought happened to my body. If I did not know, I would not be able to react properly to their worried inquiries.

I begged off speaking too much by saying that I had a headache, but that was alright with Deisuke-sensei. He was a rather talkative and self-absorbed man who proved that humans were capable of carrying a one-sided conversation mainly by speaking introspectively. "I've often wondered why an eight year old would've been the target for these crimes.", he started, worry coloring his tone. "It makes me sad about the state of our village, when not even our children could walk around the streets at night safely."

His words sent a chill down my spine. "Senseless theft and murder have been rampant these days." My attention was completely focused on my teacher who looked more serious now than Kiyoko's memories had ever shown him. "The men who tried to kidnap you for example."

I looked away and winced slightly, recalling cruel faces and disgusting taunts. Deisuke must have noticed since he tried to speak in a placating way. "Don't worry, they have been caught. Still, I don't understand how those criminals could've imagined they would get away with this. Just because a child was near the market and wearing the clothes of the House of the Sun doesn't mean that she would not be missed if she disappeared for no good reason."

Ah, yes, all orphans were given free clothes that looked similar. Mayumi herself had worn a variation of the standard red and brown robe-and-shorts that Kiyoko had as well. At the back, they were emblazoned with an orange sun, the official emblem of the orphanage. Anyone who saw those clothes knew that the wearer had no blood relations.

"I was surprised that you fought back though." He looked into my eyes questioningly, as if I was a curious little bug that had to be studied. It seems that this Deisuke did not know Kiyoko well if he thought that the young child was going to give up to strange men without a fight. The thoughts that Kiyoko had been thinking at that time were all scared. _What would they do to her? Would they use her or sell her to slavery? _She was not about to allow anyone to take her like that.

I had done the same thing myself, when thieves had tried to steal my bag. Letting them get away with it felt like I was telling them that committing crimes was alright. I could not condone such a thing, and as young as I was, I did not want them to succeed at all. Still, even if Kiyoko's kidnappers had been imprisoned in this world, I had doubts about my attackers being so unlucky. If anything, they would have probably been bailed out by the low-level syndicate that they worked for.

Eventually, I realized that Deisuke was expecting a reply, but when it came, it did not come from me. The pretty blonde who had been standing some ways apart had obviously heard and replied sarcastically. "What did you expect Kiyoko to _do_, sensei? Let herself be taken and most likely abused?" She spoke boldly for a kid. "You taught us better than that, and even if Chiaki-san is an _orphan_, she obviously wouldn't have liked to be a kidnapper's plaything." The way she said orphan made it look like it left a bad taste in her mouth, but I disregarded it, remembering that this girl was the heir of a high-ranking clan here in Sunagakure.

"Meiji-san is right, sensei. I would have rather died than let bad things happen without a fight." The words left my mouth without emotion or inflection. In the end, Kiyoko and I did die, which spoke volumes about just how much we didn't condone criminals. It appeared like I had more in common in her than I had originally thought. At this point, the young chūnin sensei looked sheepish and tried to diffuse the tense atmosphere that he himself had created, but it didn't matter as I had already tuned him out.

* * *

My visitors came back again at different times over the week I had spent stuck inside the hospital. Though technically Mayumi was part of my age group in the Academy, she never visited me with the rest of them. Such was the intense surfeit of her confidence, which I promised myself I'd try to fix when the time came.

After that one week, I was ready to swear off hospitals for a lifetime. I had enough people poking me with _sharp_ things without me being able to do anything about it. Yashamaru, who had been assigned to my case indefinitely, finally discharged me after _too many _tests, all the while reminding me to attend my check-ups and rehabilitation appointments in the future.

When I finally stepped out of the hospital doors, it was a sunny afternoon in Suna – though I don't think weather conditions here varied much. A slight wind stirred the sand enough to raise some clouds of dust, but it was pleasant enough for a walk back to the orphanage. As I continued along the path that seemed ingrained into the memories of the body I now occupied, I let my gaze wander. My gait was slow and awkward, almost shuffling. This was probably the "uncoordinated movement" thing that Yashamaru warned me about when he told me to attend my rehabilitation appointments. If I had any chance of becoming a ninja in the future, I'd do well to remember that.

The buildings all around me were mostly stucco in color, with thick earthy walls that probably helped keep most of the dust and the heat out. Now and then, I'd pass a place that seemed more like the places I found in my original world, but they were few and far in between. It was expensive to maintain them, and the only people who invested their money in such things were those rich enough to afford it, or those stupid enough to try their luck at braving Suna's sandstorms. Probably both.

One such place was a small and rather squat white building that consisted of mostly glass and metal. I recalled the name of a certain clan in Sunagakure – Kimura, I think – that was renowned for sporadically producing individuals with a kekkei genkai that allowed them to imbue the sand with their chakra, allowing plants to actually thrive in certain places. They had greenhouses all around the village, housing vegetables and fruits that would not have grown in the desert in the first place. They were Sunagakure's richest clan, and would be even richer if all their offspring had the Kimura kekkei genkai. Unfortunately, only two or three in a generation had the talent, and they also famously had small chakra reserves. Still, this meant that, if the worst came to pass and trade was no longer an option, Suna could somewhat produce its own food.

I thought about this as I bought a cup of lemonade from a stand near the glass building, looking at the famous sand dumplings that they sold askance before moving on. After passing by some stalls that had pre-made puppets and silk by the bundle, I spied a guarded building that had always held Kiyoko's interest in the past. It was a very small building, which looked more like an enlarged portalet than anything else. But, in truth, it was something much more special than that.

Lemonade flowed down my throat, sweet and sour and cold, like a gift from the gods, revitalizing me as I continued studying the place. Rumor had it that the small building housed a staircase heading deep underground, and there were a number of training grounds reserved there for chūnin and jōnin. One such training ground was a recreation of the forests of Konoha, donated most graciously by one of their previous Hokages. Another was said to house a large body of water that was kept from evaporating by the immense amount of chakra that one talented shinobi saturated it with. The most interesting one to me, though, was the training ground that mimicked an arctic wasteland, given by a clan whose kekkei genkai involved ice and snow. Maybe that Wave Arc Haku guy descended from them?

The sun was at its peak right then, and sneaking inside the grounds to roll around ice sounded so good at the moment, but I had to become a chūnin (or a criminal) to see if the rumors had merit. With the luck that I had been having so far, I wouldn't be surprised if the structure was just an oversized special portalet.

Bored with staring at one place for so long, I slowly shuffled along the roads, walking towards the orphanage that I dreaded seeing and hoping not to encounter more stimulants for the flashbacks of Kiyoko's memories that had been happening to me since I left the hospital. These flashbacks were unwanted and made me less than ready to interact with my surroundings and more likely to just stare and think – something that I didn't do much of before. Did this mean that more of Kiyoko's personality was manifesting itself in my actions? Just the thought itself made me shudder.

* * *

Dusk had settled by the time the orphanage came within my line of sight. Dark purple blanketed the sky and there was a cooler edge to the breeze that stirred my hair as I stopped walking some distance away. Seeing the orphanage brought home some realizations that I had struggled to keep away, and I had to blink a few traitorous tears away.

Coming home to a place that didn't have my family felt different. Foreign. _Wrong._ There was no one to get mad at me for staying out too late, or to bother me about school work. There would be no bowl of microwavable mac 'n cheese for me to eat while watching TV with my parents. There would be no fights with my siblings about the remote control and the internet connection. There would be…none of the things I had grown up with and did not appreciate at all until it was completely gone.

And what did I exchange it for? A lonely solo room that contained a serviceable bed, a closet, and Kiyoko's personal belongings. An orphanage full of acquaintances and superiors. A future that might result in a messy and very painful death for me. Was it all worth it? Does exchanging my past for this present offset the pain I saved my precious people from experiencing? In a way, I took the pain of seeing my old body dead from them, and hurt myself. Logically speaking, they were all dead to me. They did not exist in this world, and all it took for me to remember that was a glimpse of this godforsaken orphanage.

_I hadn't even been able to say goodbye._

I was only eight years old. I had no idea if saying goodbye would've made everything better, but it sure would have helped a child like me to find some form of closure. Everything was silent as I stepped inside, and no one, not even Mayumi was there to greet me. Even as I walked past some people in the corridors, the most I received was a glance and a nod. For a moment, I wish that I had truly died. I walked with leaden feet, my steps echoing dejectedly in the dim passageway, until I reached my intended destination. Upon entering Kiyoko's empty and impersonal room, I threw myself onto the bed and cried for the first time since I woke up in Sunagakure.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter down! Sorry for the wait. Finals kept me busy and sapped all my inspiration, but I have a couple of ideas about what to write about next. Suggestions, comments, and constructive criticism are always welcome! I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.

A couple of people brought up Kiyoko and Maza's age. They are eight years old in this fanfic, which might seem pretty young to be in the Academy, but imho Konoha's ninja kids seem to be pretty pampered compared to their counterparts in other countries. Suna doesn't seem like the kind of village to care about what age they teach their kids how to kill people. Also, to those who had asked, this takes place after Gaara was born.

Since writing this fanfic, I've found myself curious about and grateful to the reviewers who had taken time to write something for me to read and come back to every time I go online. I keep thinking, what are you guys like, even if I've looked thoroughly at all your profiles. *grins* So, I thought I'd start a dialogue and ask you random things. For example, do you guys write too? I'm not talking about just fanfics, which I probably would've noticed in your profile. I mean, poems or blogging or whatever? :3

_Thanks to my awesome reviewers: Ka, Felix Collins, Giraffadon, Hubris Plus, Silver Queen, Chrizzy-chan, Lynn-o-chan, Colors of Iris, Ressan, AnotherProfessionalTragedist, RandomCitizen, vantweet, FattySkeleton, chaosrin, Nomurai, Morpheme, and Insanity-Red!_


	4. Chapter 3

**Title:** What Are The Chances

**Summary:** If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

**A/N:** Well, I just realized that some of the smarter authors actually write most of the fanfic before they start posting it. Unfortunately for me (and perhaps you), I only wrote the first chapter and a quick outline of my idea before I uploaded it here, and each chapter hence has been written and filled out as quickly and thoroughly as I could. Hence, the weird timing of my updates. *scratches head* Sorry for that, and I'll try to do better by writing a couple of chapters in advance! Please be patient with me as I try to get my writing in order, and meanwhile, I hope you enjoy WATC!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

Just before dawn, the air in Sunagakure was cool and refreshing. From my perch on the windowsill of my empty room, I could make out spots of light traveling on the dusty streets and some shadows flitting from roof to roof. The former probably consisted of civilians going about their morning errands or getting ready to set up shop. The latter were quite obviously Sunagakure's shinobi. From my vantage point on the upper residential floors of the orphanage, it was quite fascinating to see the hidden village come to life, and even my tired eyes, which hadn't been shut in sleep for two hours now, were now wide open with curiosity with what I was seeing.

I had woken up uncomfortable with the stiff cushion on my bed, leaving behind a rather pleasant dream. Hazy with sleep, I questioned the lack of pillows and stuffed animals beside me and half-expected the smell of bacon to come wafting up from the kitchen downstairs as my mom began preparing breakfast. The soft edge of my fading dream had kept me satisfied for a few seconds before realization slowly crept in. _This_ was not my home.

Disappointment had crashed down on me like a wave of ice-cold water, jerking me from sleep like no alarm clock could. I should have realized where I was from the faint electric tingle running parallel to my veins or the dry desert air saturated by warmth or countless other sensations that weren't right…but my young mind yearned for _home_ so much that it was too reluctant to let my dream go. Still, I was not normally a morning person, and having my body move this early was too much of a surprise for me to actually consider getting ready for the day. Instead, I chose to waste my time doing something as inane as looking out the window.

As I watched the horizon slowly lighten and the slow sunrise began to paint the sky a multitude of colors, I heard a timid knock on my doors. I had not expected any visitors at this early hour, and sleepiness prevented me from trying to access Kiyoko's fading memories, so I stared at the door for a few seconds before another knock prompted me to open it.

Blonde hair greeted my sight, telling me that it was Mayumi who was visiting so early in the morning. She silently slunk into my room without invitation, with ease that said this was a routine to her and Kiyoko. But said ease evaporated, when she looked at my tired eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Kiyoko-chan. I thought you were already a-awake."

I brushed off her apology with a lazy wave of my hand. Kiyoko usually woke up around the same time I did, but I belatedly realized that _she_ spent her waking moments dressing up and getting ready to go to the Academy, not staring out the window like I did. "It's alright, Mayumi. I was…having trouble with remembering things." The meaning in my words was different from what Mayumi interpreted, but she accepted the excuse without question. I could probably tell her that Sauron stuck his lightsaber in my brain to mess with my TARDIS, and she'd accept it as truth.

Also, t_hat_ was definitely an excuse I had to try next time.

As I turned to my closet to get my clothes, Mayumi looked like she wanted to speak. Knowing that what she wanted to say would come out after she built up enough courage to speak, I turned my attention to my clothing. Nothing inside even resembled the black mesh and cotton clothes that I had first seen Kiyoko wear in Death's crossroads. Actually, she never owned anything that looked like those clothes. Instead, my selection was composed of red-and-brown kimono-like shirts and children's shorts. It was strange enough to give me pause, but before I could pursue the line of thought, Mayumi coughed slightly, trying to get my attention.

I turned Kiyoko's blue eyes onto her, waiting patiently for Mayumi to speak, but I not familiar enough with Kiyoko's body to know the effect her eyes had when they were politely emotionless. A squeak came out of Mayumi as she noted that I looked angry with her. "F-forgive m-me, Kiyoko-san…" Her voice trailed off as she redirected her gaze somewhere else, gathering her courage to speak. "I-I am sorry I d-did not c-come to g-greet you l-last night." Her stutter almost rendered her words incomprehensible. She gulped slightly as I tilted my head to the side, unconsciously mimicking Kiyoko's mannerism when she was studying some small thing that looked slightly interesting. "We were f-forb-biden t-to."

"Huh?" Though Kiyoko's personality had shone through as I listened to her, the single word that left my lips was pure Maza. I was confused. There was always some sort of welcoming committee or fanfare when a very sick or injured orphan finally came back from the hospital. Why, the one before me who had been admitted due to a bee sting that she had been allergic to was given a whole _expensive_ strawberry cake upon getting back. "I don't remember that ever happening before."

Maybe it was the confusion that finally bled through my expression that softened Kiyoko's eyes, allowing Mayumi some respite from their intensity. Her stuttering decreased dramatically when she replied. "I don't know why the m-matron said that either…"

So the lack of greetings when I arrived in the orphanage was not customary, but it was also not Mayumi's fault and as I pulled on a clean set of clothes, I said as much. That did not prevent her from bowing repeatedly and apologizing more, but her chakra felt significantly less nervous than when she entered the room.

If I had not been too busy trying to make my shaking hands buckle my sandals, I would've continued wondering how I knew what she was feeling based on her chakra alone…or how I felt her chakra at all. As it was, it took me a couple of tries to finish dealing with the catch, and by the time we had set off for the Academy the same way Mayumi and Kiyoko had done for almost two years now, the second niggling question for the morning was completely forgotten.

* * *

My first class in the Academy started when we were given photographs of various people to study and pass around. The photos depicted a myriad of faces – an old man with liver spots, a rather suave-looking teenager with hair like a teen idol's, a teenage girl with nondescript brown hair, an old witch with a huge mole, among others. As we tried examining the portraits to see what was so special about them, our chūnin sensei asked us if we saw anything out of the ordinary.

For a few moments, silence reigned in our classroom. What did he want us to see? I gave it up as a lost cause, choosing instead to lean back on my chair and wait for someone more observant to answer. Finally, after some muttering, the kid with the hawk – Fujitaka or something – raised his hand. "They have similar features and could be relatives."

No one else wanted to answer after that. Fujitaka was the top student in our age group, and whenever he answered, he was usually right. Deisuke-sensei looked at him amusedly before sighing. "Was it too much to ask that someone would get the correct answer? All the photographs are of _me_."

_What?_ I leaned towards Mayumi to study the two portraits she was holding – the old man and the teenage girl. "No henge?", I asked curiously, amazed to see similarities to Deisuke-sensei's face that I did not notice before. His reply was almost mirthful. "None whatsoever. These disguises were all done with things like hair dye and makeup, which is what our class will focus on today."

I leaned forward on my desk to listen to his lecture. "Henge can only get you so far, and if you're not part of the Kamen clan, it's very possible that your henge would be spotted and forcefully removed." At the mention of his clan's name, a boy wearing glasses sat up with pride. He reminded me of a mixture of Sasuke and Kabuto, which was creepy. "Disguises, on the other hand, are almost fool-proof, if done properly. They are physical, so they cannot be dispelled like genjutsu. They do not tax your chakra. They make it easier for you to fall into your role."

Sensei brought out a fishbowl filled with strips of paper. "Everyone, pair up and pick a piece of paper here. The disguise you will be trying to put on, with the aid of your partner, will be written." My partner was obviously Mayumi, so I went ahead to fish out a piece of paper. I almost groaned when I saw what we had to do. _Daimyo's daughter?_ How anyone expected us to do a passable disguise based on that – with the elaborate hairstyles and all – escaped me.

* * *

Even if I had her body for days, until now I never had the chance to study Kiyoko's face in detail. When I first sat down in front of the mirror, I barely stopped myself from poking it as I studied the unfamiliar face in front of me. Her hair was a rare red that I did not really see on the people of Sunagakure. They had a tendency to tangle, but behind me, Mayumi was doing a good job in detangling the wavy strands. Her face was angular, and though we were exactly the same age, the lack of baby fat and the presence of angles in her jaw made her look older than my original body.

The biggest difference, though, was in her eyes. Mine had been brown and common, but hers were a brilliant blue that should have clashed with her hair. Her coloring was not the most exotic one in our class, since there were children with green hair or orange eyes or two-toned purple to aquamarine hair, but it was so different from what I was used to.

Her face was also prone to showing different expressions than what I had intended. When I'd expect it to look politely expressionless, Kiyoko stared back with an unnerving coldness that an eight-year old shouldn't even be able to show. When I tried a small smile, it looked more like a smirk. It was frustrating.

I may be the mind inside this body now, but the body still did not feel like it was mine. Even its habits, like waking up early or passing this certain street instead of that or actually just sitting still and _thinking a lot_, overrode my natural inclinations. Death did not say that I would feel this alien in Kiyoko's body, but maybe she had just been waiting to see my reaction to it.

Then again, maybe I was just making this up in my head.

Instead of dwelling on this, I chose to focus on what we were doing at the moment. The sample photo of a daimyo's daughter showed that she had the palest skin. I tried to copy that by slathering on some of the liquid foundation provided, but it took a couple of tries for me to get it to look more natural and less like paint. Sneaking a glance at the people working near us, I saw that to the right, someone was adding a hooked nose and a huge mole to her face, while to the left, a girl was darkening her already bronzed skin and adding hay to her hair.

My quick glance around the room showed that the trio – composed of the kid with the hawk, four-eyes, and blonde princess – were not in the room. They were probably doing a D-rank somewhere. That was just one of the many things that made Sunagakure's Academy different and more dangerous, compared to Konohagakure's.

In Sunagakure, as far as I could remember, children are asked to start at the Academy as soon as they manifested certain qualities or skills that were higher than the average civilian's. Mayumi was asked to enter when a sensor visited the orphanage and pronounced her chakra capacity to be higher than a normal kid. Kiyoko entered after she beat up a couple of bullies soundly in defense of Mayumi.

At first, the Academy was less of a school and more of a nursery. They were taught games and rhymes that seemed innocent at first glance, but actually held a more sinister meaning. Tag was played, but the rules stated that the "tagging" was only allowed if they touched "lethal" areas: the throat, anywhere on the spine, the lungs, the heart, any major artery, the liver, or the kidneys. Rhymes about cooking seemed innocuous enough, if you ignored the fact that they taught the proper ingredients for making poison.

After that comes the learning part, which I was in right now. Here, practical and theoretical lessons on what a shinobi must know and do are hammered into children's heads. Passing this phase can only be done by passing a written and practical test. Konohagakure's final exam – displaying the henge, kawarimi, and bunshin – is nothing compared to what budding shinobi had to do to pass this part. The three basic jutsu must be done flawlessly, along with two other jutsu of the student's choice.

While I had spaced out, Mayumi had almost finished putting my hair up in a crazy updo full of braids. She had been so patient with doing everything that even if the hairstyle was childish, it did not look like an child did it. As I stuck a couple of flowers in, she pushed my head forward to prod the chakra suppression seal painted on my nape. "Want powder for that?", I offered.

The girl painting on freckles beside us nudged me, holding out a bottle of liquid. "This should do the job better, I think. It's a…latex concealer thingy." It felt cold and weird when Mayumi started sponging it on my back, so I casted around for something else to focus on.

As I looked at the mirror, studying the quiet girl behind me, I remembered that Kiyoko had the henge and bunshin, while Mayumi only lacked one more jutsu to pass. The trio that originally sparked my thinking were all children of noble clans, and were trained in their family jutsu stringently. It shouldn't have been surprising that they passed this part already.

Upon passing this part, we were still not considered genin. Instead, it was something like an…upper-level Academy Student. Like the trio, they were given D-ranks to complete. You could either get a solo mission or go with teams, but the teams changed all the time. Anyway, it wasn't that hard to complete the missions because D-ranks were considered the lowest of the low – civilian missions that had no danger to them whatsoever. In order to finally be recognized as a genin, one should be deemed worthy of a C-rank mission, and on that mission, one must kill an enemy.

The system was more barbaric than Konohagakure, I admit, but it was a million times better than Bloody Mist, and for that, I was thankful. Each village, it appeared, had a distinct set of ideals that set them apart from each other. Konoha had the "good guy" image down pat, what with their Will of Fire and teamwork nonsense. Mist shinobi strove to be the very best, like no one ever was. And Suna? Suna just wanted to get the job, and to get the job done.

A few minutes after my mind quieted down and I just stared off into space, Mayumi tapped my shoulder, drawing my attention to the mirror she held. With it, she showed me the intricate braids studded with flowers that her hands made. In previous classes, we were taught how to fix hair and put makeup, but she managed to put together all the lessons and actually made me look passably like a daimyo's daughter. It was crazy.

I spun around happily, hugging the quiet girl. "Thank you, Mayumi-chan! It looks amazing."

"Too true." Our sensei had come up to check on our progress. "You have a clever hand when it comes to this, Mayumi. Good job!"

She blushed from her neck to her hairline, barely stuttering out her thanks before I switched with her to do her hair. As I started brushing out the blonde locks, I remembered that Kiyoko was not very good with this at all…but _I_ had an older sister and _tons_ of YouTube tutorials to fall back on. Mayumi-chan was going to look stunning!

* * *

I managed to put Mayumi's hair up in a waterfall braid-looking bun thing, but I struggled with centering it for a few moments before deciding to simply stick a decorative fan to make the crooked hairstyle seem like it was lopsided on purpose. After everyone had finished with their disguises, we were taught how to hide weapons in our hair and other not-so-obvious places, so that we could pass off as civilians if we needed to. A impractical amount of senbon practically held my hair together now, and I had to be careful not to lean anywhere unless I wanted a needle to scramble my brain. Some of the more experienced kunoichi helped with the lecture, and a freaky one with scorpions running up and down her arms showed us the senbon she kept in her hair, which was dripping with poison. It took years of inoculation and training, she said, but if any of us showed an aptitude for assassination, then they would be trained further in this style.

I took note of it as a possible future career path. Assassination sounded _badass_…if you didn't think of the person you were killing. It was better than seduction anyway, which was full of icky things.

Then, the rest of the class had to fight in their disguises, which would be useless if it impeded their skills. One girl who had put on a super formal kimono almost fainted when she heard this. I gave her the stinkeye, wondering just what she expected to do in Academy. We weren't here to give each other makeovers for no reason.

The trio came back just in time for this and were asked to participate as well. Apparently, from the complaints of blonde Meiji-san, they had to do an old lady's groceries. She kept on harping about how _beneath_ her the task had been, especially since she was a member of a noble clan and the old lady was just a civilian. Kiyoko always thought that Meiji was insufferable, and I found that I agreed with her completely.

I had to sit this activity out, since I hadn't been given Yashamaru's approval to train again. Instead, I worked with sensei's assistant, trying to form handseals as crisply and accurately as I could with my shaking fingers. It was as tedious as it sounds, but in time, I made some improvement. At least I didn't mix up the ones that go left-over-right and right-over-left any more. After forty-five minutes of this, the assistant let me take a break, which I spent watching the last few fights in the mini-tournament taking place.

Fujitaka was a genjutsu user, which made his fight extremely boring to watch since only his opponent could see whatever it was Fujitaka wanted him to see. When the other kid tried to attack him, Fujitaka just did a couple of handsigns and he fell to the ground screaming and trying to claw his eyes out. Overkill much? Still, Deisuke-sensei praised him for using techniques that did not cost him his disguise.

One of the more interesting matches was, surprisingly enough, Mayumi's. Her opponent focused more on taijutsu, and surprisingly enough, she matched him there. They had special kunai that was supposed to leave a color mark – Mayumi's was blue and her opponent's was red – where it hits, instead of cutting into the person. Mayumi held her kunai in a reverse grip and, since they began, practically danced around her opponent, slicing into his exposed areas easily. It was almost _bloodthirsty_. Still not satisfied with what she had done, Mayumi hit her opponent's hand, which caused him to let go of his own kunai. This, Mayumi took in her empty hand, and by the time she had finished with him, he was painted with so much red and blue that all he could do was stare.

Instead of praise, Mayumi was told that she forgot the objective of the exam and she failed. Her hair was messy and her clothes were slightly torn. All hope of salvaging her disguise was gone. She stuttered and blushed almost double when apologizing to Deisuke-sensei, but he only patted her head bemusedly, saying that instead of assassination, she should look into being a tank. I couldn't agree more.

As soon as I could, I waved her over and congratulated her on her match. She was _thisclose_ to being a Mary Sue in my eyes that I couldn't resist poking her to make sure she was real. What did I expect though? She was the 2nd best student in this class, and with good reason.

* * *

After class, I couldn't go with the rest to eat some cold zarusoba before heading home. I had to go to Yashamaru's off-hospital clinic to get my chakra seal checked and for physical rehabilitation. Missing out on bonding time with my classmates seemed like the cruelest thing ever, and I dragged my feet as I headed to Yashamaru's, making it obvious to the world that I was in a bad mood.

His clinic was not what I expected it to be. As the Kazekage's brother-in-law, I thought that he would have a sizable building for himself, maybe two stories high and bustling with assistants and nurses. Instead, his clinic appeared to be an outgrowth of his own house. It was an open area twice the size of the living space, and outfitted with medical and physical rehabilitation equipment, but only one nurse and one assistant medic were there to help out.

I sat on a chair in front of his doctor's desk, swinging my stubby legs as if repetitive movements could alleviate my boredom. Even Yashamaru looked boring, with his normal smile, and his sandy hair, and his eyes that looked at me like I was an interesting beetle. "How are you feeling today, Chiaki-san?" The respect with which he probably addressed all his patients grated on my nerves a little bit. I was an eight-year old! It felt like he was laughing at me by addressing me like that.

"Please, Yashamaru-san, call me Kiyoko." My tiny voice sounded laughable as I tried to inject steel into it.

"Ah, I see we have a young spitfire right here. Well then, Kiyoko-chan, how have you been feeling?" Was he being condescending? I couldn't really tell but I didn't like it anyway.

"My feet would…drag when I try to run and sometimes, my fingers shake. By the end of the day, it gets worse. Sometimes, I forget things that were part of my routine, and it takes me a while to remember people and places and events."

Yashamaru noted things down on his clipboard. "Hmm…that was expected. Have you had headaches or experienced sudden pain in any part of your body?"

"No…" I pretended to think carefully. "Well, there was that one time when Meiji-san pulled my chair away when I was going to sit on it and I fell–"

"Very funny, Kiyoko-chan." His face constantly had that smile on, and I couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or not. Ninjas! So good at hiding their emotions and whatnot. "Now close your eyes and breathe normally."

Of course, when someone tells you to breathe normally, you suddenly become conscious of your breathing and thus find it hard to actually breathe _normally_. I tried to even it out and counted to four with each inhale and exhale. The cold metal of his stethoscope kept on moving around my back, tinged with the taste of his own chakra which seeped into my muscles like eucalyptus ointment.

"I'm going to check and adjust your seal now. It might get uncomfortable for you, so if you think it's too much, then just tell me."

A metallic tang filled the air as he unscrewed a pot of ink and dipped a brush into it. I cringed as the _cold_ wetness slid down the nape of my neck, followed by a scalding burst of intensely _hot_ chakra.

Familiar lightning shocked me by coursing through my veins painfully. The intensity of the shock made me feel like my veins should glow through my skin. I gripped the arms of my chair hard, gritting my teeth to keep from making a sound. I wasn't about to make Yashamaru think that I was weak!

Slowly but steadily, the pain decreased to a more manageable level, and the only traces the electricity left was a faint warmth that traveled through my body, making me feel _vital_ somehow. _Wow_. Chakra felt like an adrenaline shot, not that I could compare from experience but still.

While I got used to the feeling of having more chakra circulating in my body, I felt Yashamaru place his hands on both sides of my head, letting healing chakra travel inside. Slowly but surely, some of the stuffiness in my brain that I didn't know existed started to clear up. After a minute or two, he stopped and told me to open my eyes. Everything seemed so much brighter and clearer now.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" I swiveled to look at him and nodded my agreement mutely. I was enjoying the sensation of chakra now, which was more than I could say for the first few times I felt it in my body. "For the past week, you have been existing on the minimum amount of chakra needed to sustain your bodily functions. Now, you have enough for a single kawarimi or a henge…or ninety minutes of chakra control exercises. Would you like to try?"

"You're going to _teach _me?" The incredulous words left my mouth without being censored.

"Hey, hey! Don't give me that look. I may be a medic but I know a few tricks too." He moved to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly, but caught himself in time and patted the top of my head instead. "Besides, don't you think I deserve my joūnin rank?"

I mock-frowned at his fake pout. Most people would be happy to have him as a teacher, especially _me_ since he could make sure that I don't overuse my chakra and _die_. "I didn't say that…"

"Then what better place to restart your ninja training than here? We can do your physical rehabilitation first, then work on chakra control… Shall we begin?" He didn't wait for my reply, and gently pushed me towards the rehabilitation equipment instead.

* * *

Yashamaru began by demonstrating the basic kata that we were taught in the Academy. Historically, its maker named it Shifting Sands, since it focused on being as fluid and unpredictable as its namesake. I hadn't expected a medic-nin to look so _dangerous_ when performing a kata, especially one that Suna shinobi learned as children, but his movements were full of grace underscored by the faintest trace of danger.

After one demonstration, he told me to try and copy his movements. I stepped in front of the mirror, conscious of just how bad my form was compared to his. The beginning stance was a sort of lunge on your right foot, with one arm close to the body and another stretched out. He nudged my left leg further back before nodding and beginning the kata once more.

The kata was like a dance when he performed it, by I was far from his standards. I'd like to say I did passably well, but my form was only good on the first run-through, and with each succeeding run, the shakiness in my limbs became more pronounced. Though Yashamaru tried to correct my form by stopping and asking me to stay still as he moved my limbs to their proper places, I don't think my muscle memory was able to retain his corrections. It was only when I got ready to do the kata for the sixth time and moved back into the beginning position with noticeably shaking hands that Yashamaru told me to sit down and rest.

I plopped down on the wooden floor and downed a glass of water as he noted more things on his clipboard. Maybe someday I'd sneak a look into that thing and see just what his comments are about my sad state.

"That exercise was done so that I can judge our starting point in your physical therapy." Yashamaru sat in front of me with a thoughtful look on his face. "I can see that you remember the basic movements well, though your endurance is not at par with your classmates'. The shakiness and uncoordinated movements are to be expected, so we have to work on that some more next time.

"Still, it was good of you to not use your chakra to enhance your physical performance, and that gives us time for you to practice your meditation. They still teach _nikkouyoku no jutsu _in the Academy, right?"

I nodded slowly, remembering how Kiyoko was taught to protect her body from sunburn and heatstroke by running a thin layer of chakra through her skin. She had not mastered it before her kidnapping incident, and the Academy lessons on nikkouyoku, or sunbathing, were finished as soon as the students got the rudimentary idea. It was not something taught as an important jutsu, but more like a useful one for everyday life. "I remember the jutsu, but what will we use it for?"

"Ah, don't they use it as a chakra-control exercise anymore? I was burnt bad the first time my sensei tried to teach us that!"

"For chakra control, we were taught the leaf-sticking thing from Konoha.", I volunteered.

"That's useless.", he pronounced solemnly, playing at being serious by thumping a closed fist on his open palm. "Sure, you get to control your chakra, but what's the point of doing so through making a leaf stick when there are more practical ways to learn."

"Like nikkouyoku." Deadpan sarcasm.

"Exactly, young grasshopper!" The enthusiasm in his voice reminded me of Konoha's Maito Gai, and I shuddered slightly as I imagined Yashamaru wearing the man's green tights. It was not a good mental image.

He toned his excited voice down a few notches as he led me to the sandy yard of his clinic. The sun was just past its peak, but its rays were still hot enough to make anyone perspire after a few minutes of direct exposure. As he threw a soft cushion on the sandy ground and told me to sit and practice nikkouyoko for an hour or so, I realized that Yashamaru's happy demeanor was not due to youthful happiness.

It was sadism.

* * *

**A/N: **A day in the life of our main character! What do you think? Some plot threads are beginning to peek through here and there, if you're looking closely enough. Please review and tell me what you think!

Another random question for any one else who's reading this and also writes (be it fanfiction or poems or essays or whatever). Where and how do you write best? I mean… I write well when I'm lying belly-down on my bed, but I've heard that that isn't the most conducive to writing. Maybe that's the reason for the frequent naps I take while typing a chapter but eh. What works the best for you?

The reason for this late update is because I just finished studying for and taking the national admissions test for Medicine in my country. It fried my brain like nobody's business, but I did have enough time to spot a pretty awesome fanfic by DigitalTart, _One Small Kindness_ and its sequel, _Daybreak: Part I_. I spent most of the past day just reading and rereading it in its entirety, while getting depressed because of the amazing writing and plotting it had, which I could only hope to equal. Check it out!

_Thanks to my awesome reviewers and PM-ers: Morpheme, Ka (whose reviews I truly appreciate, even if I can't reply to them through PM), vantweet, RandomCitizen, Spyrkle10, Hubris Plus, Guest, ChaosTheVoid, Perfect Lionheart, Nomurai, mikeecomendador, Colors of Iris, Silver Queen, Felix Collins, and chaosrin. I'll reply to everything as soon as I can._


	5. Chapter 4

**Title: **What Are The Chances

**Summary: **If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

**A/N: **I hope this comparatively prompt update makes up for the irregular updating schedule and that you enjoy reading WATC! It's been an upward struggle, but I seem to be finding my feet now, in terms of plot.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Contrary to what I expected, going to the Academy turned out to be the most boring part of my day. Since none of the teachers were trained in how to deal with a student that wasn't in her prime, most of my time was spent observing their practice as I did a watered-down version of their activity. If they had sparring, I did the Shifting Sands kata. When they trained in ninjutsu, I practiced how to stick a precious little leaf to my foreheard. When they practiced genjutsu, I read scrolls on theory.

Because of this, the visits to Yashamaru's clinic turned out to be the highlight of my day. He was a patient teacher when explaining things for the first time, but also had high standards. Making a mistake after already being corrected is unacceptable to him. Behind his kind smile and demeanor was a drive to make sure that all his patients in rehabilitation did their best to get well, and that was multiplied a thousandfold when it came to me.

For some reason, Yashamaru's interest in my training and future ninja career was more than what felt like normal to me.

At first, I called him a sadist for making me practice nikkouyoku for hours on end. It was a technique that prevented the harmful effects of the sun's rays. This meant no changes in skin color, no sunburn, no heatstroke, and probably no skin cancer as well. What it didn't do, though, was change how hot the sun felt on your skin. So even if sitting directly under the afternoon sun did not blister your skin, you still had to endure the terrible desert heat.

After that, we graduated to using chakra to do simple things. Yashamaru was of the belief that chakra control could be practiced simply by using chakra instead of your own body to do easy tasks. One example is a variation of a field technique that Suna shinobi use when they were filthy but had no water to take a bath with. If done in an instant, chakra removes the dirt from the skin the same way water could. Above average control is needed when doing this because you don't want too much chakra to remove your skin or too little chakra to miss some spots. When maintained constantly for as long as possible, the thinnest layer of chakra on your skin could prevent sand from getting into your clothes and making you dirty.

This, I practiced throughout the day, even before I arrived in the clinic. Once I arrived there, Yashamaru would use a finger to scratch my arm lightly and then check under his nail to see if I had dust on my skin or not. Little by little, I learned that the trick was to visualize your chakra as a barrier or sorts. Cling wrap was the most effective image that I could think of. Because of this visualization thing, each succeeding meeting showed a gradual though miniscule improvement, which I appreciated. It was around this time that I realized that Yashamaru's apparent happiness in seeing me struggle was eclipsed by the happiness he showed when I triumphed.

Another chakra control exercise that Yashamaru taught me was how to make things, especially my own clothing, stick to me. In practice, what he made me do was a more practical version of the leaf sticking technique. The wind in Sunagakure was legendary for its mercurial gusts, and every citizen of Suna has experienced accidentally exposing part of their bodies to others because they weren't able to hold their skirts or shirts down in time.

Yashamaru made me borrow different pieces of clothing from the orphanage's stock of similarly-colored red and brown pieces. Since the cloth used to make them were mostly donations, there was an immense variety. Among the selections, silks mingled with rough-spun cotton and sackcloth, and all of these required different levels and _feels_ of chakra to stick to my skin. It made walking around Suna's windy streets an interesting, and at the beginning, almost chakra-draining experience. It was through this exercise that I learned how to adjust the flow of my chakra to different parts of my body and in different levels, as needed.

From what I could see in our almost daily meetings, Yashamaru did not expect my chakra control to progress so far and so easily. He told me as much when he said that my previous records before the kidnapping attempt did not show this much potential in dealing with chakra.

I couldn't tell him that every time he changed the seal on my neck to release more chakra in my body, I became more aware of a part of me that had not been there before. It was like dreaming of having another hand, only to have it become more and more corporeal as time passed by. I couldn't _not_ learn how to control my chakra so easily when I had existed for eight years without its presence. It was hard enough to ignore it whenever I tried to go asleep, because the electricity in my body just kept on _going_ and _going _and interacting with the rest of the electricity around me.

Physically, I was progressing along in pretty much the same rate that Yashamaru expected. During training, he did not allowed the augmenting of muscles with chakra, which was alright since I pretty much didn't know how to do it despite everyone else appearing to be able to do it naturally. Even little babies thumping their tiny fists against their mothers' chest could do it, but not Chiaki Kiyoko. No, siree!

This was the only time I appreciated my scroll-reading time in the Academy. In it's library, there were a couple of books about augmenting the body with chakra, and I learned that most people did not need to be taught how to do it. There were a certain _rare_ few who were deemed chakra-hypersensitive, and thus had to be taught how to manipulate chakra in ways that others would call instinctive. Since I was already known as suffering from chakra-hypersensitivity, it only took a nudge and a nicely phrased question to make Yashamaru see that it was the next thing we had to work on.

* * *

One of the few interesting things breaking up the monotony of my day happened when Yashamaru was doing his healing chakra thing on my head, trying to reverse the brain damage lack of oxygen had created.

I had been practicing nikkouyoku while he was fiddling with my head, which I think speaks volumes about my trust of him and my stupidity as well. A little ache had been building up behind my eyes for the past half hour, and I could feel Yashamaru's chakra flowing past it in waves. It felt like a knot that he was trying to untie, but he kept on pulling on the wrong parts, making it tighter and tighter.

"Cut it out!" I screamed as the pain suddenly began to spike. Practicing nikkouyoku was forgotten. I bent over, cradling my aching head in my hands as the pulsing of the pain began to take over my consciousness.

I could hear him shouting my name, but it did not seem important compared to what was going through my head.

Behind my eyelids, it felt like I was watching scenes from my previous life playing like a movie. Everything was crystal clear, and I only had to _think_ of a memory before every single facet of the experience was displayed before me as if it was only happening now. It felt like someone threw me into fictional Harry Potter's pensieve and turned its display into HD.

The headache lessened with every single scene I watched, and I began to realize that a warm hand was holding mine. I clutched it like a lifesaving flotation device, realizing that it was Yashamaru.

_He_ had unwittingly, accidentally, miraculously given me back all the memories of my past life in perfect _perfect_ clarity. It was like I lived the past eight years with an eidetic memory. He gave me my past back. He gave me my parents, my siblings, our jokes and our fights, along with everything I ever experienced in my world.

And, as I looked at his confused face through teary eyes, I realized that he didn't even know it.

* * *

_Yashamaru was sure that something had happened to the girl in his arms. He had spent an inordinate amount of time struggling with what felt like a foreign body in his favorite little patient's mind, only for her to collapse screaming. To add to that, when it appeared like the pain had gone down, Kiyoko had opened her teary eyes and smiled at him. It was like the sunshine streaming past a thundercloud._

_He placed a hand on her sweaty forehead, checking her temperature as he felt her cling to him. Sometimes, he forgot that she was just eight years old because she displayed stunning maturity…but right now, curled up on his lap with her blood-colored hair lankly covering her face, she looked so much younger than eight._

"_Hey, are you okay?" With one hand, he tentatively pushed her hair aside. For some reason, there were tears still falling from her eyes, but her expression contradicted the sad message that normally came with tears. For a split-second, he entertained the thought of his chakra inducing a nervous breakdown in his young patient, but disregarded it. That shouldn't be possible at all._

_Blue eyes – the feature that dominated Kiyoko's pale face – turned to him. "I am better now than I have ever been in Sunagakure." The smile that covered her face was infectious, and even if Yashamaru was uncertain about her mental stability, he smiled back at her. The mental exams and brain probes can wait until later._

* * *

That night, I went home to the orphanage with a lighter heart. Though I knew that memories did not hold a candle to seeing my loved ones faces in person, having such clear memories of them almost made it seem like they were here in this world with me.

I had spent almost all of my time here in this world interacting with only with those people I could not avoid. I tried not to form any more personal relationships because I was still mourning the people I lost in the other world. Everywhere I looked, I saw toys that maybe my brother would like to play with, or a girl with the same hair color as my sister's favorite pop star, or someone whose glasses were the same shape as my father's. Their phantoms kept me from moving forward…but not any more.

Now, with the combined memories of them that I kept in my heart, I felt like I had them with me constantly. It did not stop me from yearning for their presence, but it did put an end to my pseudo-avoidance of other people.

Another thing that affected me greatly was having two sets of memories from when I was born until the time I met Death. The first was my own clear set of memories from my past life, while the second was Kiyoko's faded set. Somehow, having both of these in my head made me feel like I was so much older than I seemed. It amounted to sixteen childishly spent years, and even though their contents were juvenile at best, I was willing to wager that it raised my mental age considerably.

* * *

A knock on my door woke me up. I had fallen asleep almost immediately after arriving from Yashamaru's clinic and did not expect anyone to look for me. Looking blearily at the clock on my bedside table, I saw that it was 10 in the evening, only thirty minutes before the orphanage curfew was in effect.

I slowly got up and opened the door, blinking at the light streaming in from the corridor outside. There was a chūnin volunteer waiting and sheepishly grinning at me as I looked up at him. "Ah, were you asleep? I'm sorry for waking you up."

"It's alright. What do you need me for?" It wasn't unusual to be woken up because a younger kid needed help sleeping, but that usually happened during thunderstorms, or after some stupid volunteer told scary stories. The former wasn't happening as of the moment and the latter didn't happen that morning, so I was completely in the dark about why someone was knocking on my door this time of the night.

"Matron-sama asked me to call for you. She says there's something very important that she needed to discuss."

"Okay…" The fact that it was the Matron calling for me added more mystery to the situation. I don't recall seeing her more than thrice in my life, and there were many others who had her favor that she was more likely to ask for favors than me. Still, she was the power inside this orphanage, and I had to go see what she wanted from me.

The walk to her office was silent, and halfway there, the chūnin volunteer left me to tend to his other tasks. I hesitated when I saw the door to her office at the end of the corridor. It was solid wood, carved with depictions of leaves and animals, incongruous with Sunagakure's natural surroundings. I wouldn't be surprised if it was imported from Konoha, though the price for such a huge imported piece of carving must have been astronomical.

It was said that you could only pass through that door when it was time for you to go to heaven or hell. Orphans have a flair for the dramatic, but what heaven really meant was that most children only went to the Matron to be told that they were being adopted already. Hell happened to those children who were too old to be supported by the orphanage and had to be told to leave and find their own way outside.

Though I didn't think that I was about to be told that a family had chosen me for adoption, I wasn't too old to live in the orphanage yet. Maybe she was finally calling me to see how I have been since the kidnapping attempt, but that still didn't give me the reason for such a late summons.

There I went again, overthinking things. I had probably spent the last three minutes just standing and staring at the door in front of me. Ugh, I really had to stop this habit of thinking and thinking and not acting!

I knocked respectfully and pushed the door inward after a voice from inside bade me to enter. The only light source in the room was a pair of candles on either side of the Matron's desk, bathing the area in some sort of dramatic light.

"Come closer, child, and let me look at the face of our newest celebrity." Her voice was scratchy but authoritative. I walked nearer her desk and stared at the wizened face on the other side. A quirk of her thin lips said that she was amused with something, though nothing funny was happening at the moment.

A hand held my chin, turning my face from side to side as she inspected me. "You look none the worse for wear, child. I see no reason why the hospital orders for you to stop doing your chores must be upheld."

So that was why I hadn't been called to kitchen duty or laundry duty or anything that Kiyoko remembered doing in her time here. I was about to thank the Matron for letting me rest, but I recalled that she disliked being spoke to without her blatantly asking for a reply.

"Ah, so you still have manners, child. It might please you, then, to start working on your chores once more. Keep in mind that your load will be heavier now, due to the fact that you have to make up for the chores you missed while you were recuperating. Besides, I heard that they were not letting you do strenuous exercises in the academy, so you should have enough energy for some extra chores."

I was surprised with what she was suggesting. Of course I was ready to accept a heavier load to make up for what I had missed out on, but physically, my body was not ready to do anything of that sort yet. The strain on my arms while doing the laundry manually would overexert me, and cooking should be out of the question because I was more likely to spill something or to cut my fingers off than to actually make a good meal. Were they…punishing me for almost getting kidnapped?

The incredulous look on my face must have spoken enough for me, since the Matron slammed her bony hand on the desk and scoffed. "Do you think you're special, child? Did you imagine that just because the Kazakage and his useless medic-nin brother-in-law have taken an interest in you, we should wait on you hand and foot?"

That was the first time I heard of the Kazekage since I arrived here, and I sure as hell didn't know why he was interested in a negligible orphan such as myself. Still, having been asked a direct question, I was allowed to answer back.

"No, I did not say that. I was merely surprised when you mentioned that you were contradicting hospital orders." That was the most respectful reply I could think of at the moment.

The Matron stood up and loomed over me, looking at me like the insignificant little maggot that I probably was. "Your medic must have been wrong with his assessment, or you must have pretended to be sicker in order to get away with slacking off.

"Go get a bucket, some soap, a sponge, and a brush from the supply closet. You are to clean the patio just off the nursery. It was used to entertain the kids with finger painting and they got a little too…creative."

I bristled with the way she was addressing me. I was an orphan, not a slave! But she was not done yet.

"Scrub the walls and the floor paint-free, then arrange the materials properly in the nursery. You must finish before the curfew, or you will be punished. Do you understand the instructions given to you, child?"

"Yes." I bit off, wanting to get out of there before she could add anything more to her unfair orders.

"Well then…" She smiled at me, though the effect was not pleasant on her face at all. It took me a moment to realize that this was the dismissal that I had been waiting for, and I practically ran out of the room in order to begin cleaning the patio. I had twenty minutes to the clean the whole place and to get back to my room on the opposite side of the orphanage. Every second was important.

* * *

_A blur of red hair rushed past Mayumi as she exited the door to the left the Matron's office. Mayumi had been cleaning the shelves in that room and though she wanted to some company, it looked like Kiyoko was in a hurry, so the girl didn't call after her. Instead, she just hoisted the bucket of dirty water off the floor and began her trek back to the supply room._

_Just then, she heard a rather loud laugh coming in from the office of the Matron. The huge door had not been closed properly and the sounds of footsteps could be heard inside._

"_Did you see the little shit's face when I told her to clean something? She was shocked, wasn't she!" That was the Matron's voice, though it was in a tone that Mayumi had never heard before. "That might've been unnecessary, but it felt good."_

_A deep voice answered her. "As long as you don't think it will make her suspicious, you can continue punishing her as you see fit. Just don't call attention to our operation."_

_Mayumi had to clamp her free hand on her mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping. What these people were talking about seemed shady. Someone should be informed at once, but who? The Matron was out of the question, and with her went most of the volunteers inside the orphanage. They couldn't act on a simple conversation overhead by a mere child!_

_Slowly, she tried to tiptoe away, but the hand holding the bucket of water was slippery wet. Without meaning to let go, the bucket handle slipped from her grasp, clattering on the floor with a loud sound. Grey water puddled around the girl who froze with fear. There was no way the people inside the Matron's office did not hear that sound._

_The huge door creaked slowly as the Matron peeked out. Her beady eyes focused on Mayumi, cold and calculating. "Have you been listening the whole time?"_

"_Who is it?" The male voice called. Its tone felt too smooth, like a greasy salesman trying to make his quota._

"_Just another girl. This one might be missed though."_

"_I can take care of that." A familiar face swam into view, making Mayumi shiver as she realized the implication of this person's presence inside the Matron's office. Before she could scream or run away or do anything, a wave of killing intent more intense than anything she ever felt paralyzed her. "Wasureru no jutsu!"_

* * *

The happiness brought about by my new clear memories was overshadowed by the tiredness in my limbs. As I had predicted, I had not been able to finish cleaning the patio the night before, and had to suffer the consequences of being out during curfew. That meant having no breakfast, plus having certain privileges taken away. The Matron decided that it would be funny to withhold my allowance for the day, preventing me from buying additional food or materials if I needed them.

I was of the opinion that the Matron probably got off on child abuse.

The time spent in the Academy passed mostly in a blur. Mayumi was not her normal self that day, appearing to be shyer that usual. She lost her place more than once when she was called to read a passage from a scroll, and was defeated by an opponent that she normally would've trounced within a minute. Because of my lack of sleep and general irritation with the world, I did not pay much attention to her, chalking up her strange behavior to lack of sleep as well. She did say she spent most of the night cleaning shelves for the Matron as well.

The lunch box I received was half its normal size, which made my mood even worse. We were given bento prepared by the chūnin volunteers, so this change must have been on the orders of the Matron again. Was she out to kill me or something? Maybe she thought I was too fat and could use a diet.

The distraction continued even in Yashamaru's clinic. I'm pretty sure he heard my stomach grumble once or twice, seeing as he gave me a couple of pieces of toast to tide me over. I jumped on these like a wild cat and downed them within mere seconds. "Thanks, Yashamaru-san!" I managed to call out between bites.

He patted my head fondly as he handed me another piece of bread. "A growing girl has to eat, doesn't she?" I practically grabbed the bread from his outstretched hand. "Maybe we should take a break today and just talk about what happened yesterday, if that's alright with you, Kiyoko-chan?"

"Must we?" My voice was as plaintive as I could make it.

"Well, we could talk about other things. What do you want to discuss?" Yashamaru was such a softie, giving in after one dose of puppy dog eyes.

"I don't know… We could talk about you." There was a question I had been meaning to ask him. From the Naruto series, I remembered that Yashamaru's character died because of his attempt to kill Gaara, but he only did it because he was following orders. I had to wonder at his motivation for that. What made a kind person do such a thing? "Why did you want to become a ninja, Yashamaru-san?"

"That is an easy question." This statement was accompanied by a wistful sigh. "I became a ninja because I wanted to protect my sister, Karura."

"Were you able to?"

"Up to a certain point, yes." This was the most serious face I'd ever seen Yashamaru wear. "There were some people I could not protect her from, and some things that I could not control."

I bet. Did Karura truly want to marry the Yondaime Kazekage? Had their marriage been a happy one? She was dead now, so I'll never be able to ask her personally. Yashamaru did not seem that eager to answer my questions now, and canon never really said anything about it.

Yashamaru's kind voice interrupted my thoughts. "What about you? Why do you want to become a ninja, Kiyoko-chan?"

"I…don't know." It wasn't like I could tell him that I was a soul from another world who had been sent to a body of a child training to be a ninja. I couldn't say that I did not choose this career, Kiyoko did. Instead, I tried to deflect the question. "Sometimes, I do not see the point in becoming a ninja. All the training and the possible death due to violence and the murder and the fighting and the _stress_!" Yashamaru chuckled when he heard my complaints, but faltered when the wetness started to pool in my eyes.

I was just a weak child, not even halfway towards the average in my age group in the Academy. Kiyoko may have been motivated to fight for something, but I was Maza, and I was different from her. At the moment, I was tired and frustrated and in pain and _so young_ and separated from anyone who ever cared about me. There was a matron out to punish me for something I'm not sure I did, and there were people out there who would probably gut me just for being an Academy Student of Sunagakure. "Why should I still want to be a ninja?"

"Because of your village? Because of your precious people?" Yashamaru's voice was soft, almost a whisper, and I had to strain my ears in order to hear him. "These are weak words and weak reasons. Be a ninja for _yourself_, Kiyoko. Become a ninja because you could be great at it. Become a ninja because if you don't, then you will be weak, and weak people die easily."

He looked at me with intense eyes, so similar to the ones I saw drawn onto Naruto's face whenever I watched the anime. Blatantly earnest belief mingled with steely resolve in his gaze. "You didn't die easily."

* * *

**A/N: **Just trying out a new writing style. Paragraphs in _italics_ are snippets from a third-person point of view. I found myself missing this and wanted to see if a change of scenery could add things to the narrative. Living inside Maza's head must get boring at times! Please review and let me know what you think! All of my chapters have not been checked by a beta, so if you spot an error in grammar or spelling, please let me know.

_Thank you to my awesome reviewers and PMers: Amber, Ka, Vaughn Tyler, XxBishxX, LadyZeva, ChaosTheVoid, RandomCitizen, and Hubris Plus! I'm still not done catching up with reviews from previous chapters and PMs from other people, but I will get in touch soon. Thank you to every single person who added this story and me to their Alerts and Favorites. You guys are amazing as well._


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